Auto Metals Specialist Gestamp Opens U.K. Plant

Automotive metal-components supplier Gestamp opens a new manufacturing facility in Four Ashes near Wolverhampton in the U.K.’s West Midlands region, 110 miles (175 km) northwest of London.

The 538,200-sq.-ft. (50,000-sq.-m) plant will include one of the world’s biggest hot-stamping lines, Gestamp says in a news release. It also will manufacture aluminum parts in an innovative transfer servo press, including battery boxes for electric vehicles. The equipment will comprise laser cells for cutting and welding.

The facility will include the production capability of Gestamp’s existing Cannock plant, six miles (10 km) to the east, when current capacity is transferred, safeguarding 800 jobs.

“This new plant is more efficient and competitive. It is a customer-focused factory with opportunity for further growth with both existing and new clients,” Gestamp Executive Chairman Francisco J. Riberas says.

Current clients include Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan-Renault, Volvo, Ford, BMW, Toyota and Honda.

WardsAuto reported in July that Riberas predicts outsourcing could make automaker -owned and -run stamping plants a thing of the past.

“This growth in outsourcing is coming from two main areas,” Riberas told media during a tour of Gestamp’s plant near Barcelona, Spain. “One is the movement among carmakers from traditional cold stamping to hot stamping in order to reduce weight and improve emissions.”

He says the move to outsource will grow as automakers pursue lightweighting by using increasing amounts of very high-strength, hot-stamped body panels for their vehicles.

Since 2012, Gestamp has invested more than $262 million (£200 million) in its seven U.K. plants, which employ nearly 3,000 people. The Wolverhampton facility is one of five plants opened by the company worldwide this year alone.